


Whale Done Parenting for Loki : 칭찬은 로키도 춤추게 한다

by hicstans



Series: The new family [1]
Category: The Avengers (2012), Thor (2011)
Genre: Fury is better father than odin, Gen, Translation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-10
Updated: 2012-08-24
Packaged: 2017-11-11 19:49:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/482255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hicstans/pseuds/hicstans
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki finds a new father in Midgard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [칭찬은 로키도 춤추게 한다](https://archiveofourown.org/works/457827) by [hicstans](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hicstans/pseuds/hicstans). 



> Translation by 사은(river_deep )
> 
>  
> 
> This is a fill for norsekink prompt. It is kinda Gen but if you wear slash goggles, you might spot Hawkeye/Coulson.
> 
> The original prompt: http://norsekink.livejournal.com/3231.html?thread=5475743#t5475743
> 
> In a battle where SHIELD, the Avengers and Loki and his various allies have to join forces to send a more massive threat packing. During the battle Loki's actions help save the day, and afterward Fury specifically praises Loki, earning a surprised but genuine smile from Loki. A little while later another threat occurs and Loki turns up to help them, again earning praise from Fury, only this time Fury has put the pieces together (male authority figure in power with an eye patch) and decides to try and reel in the God Mischief.  
> Bonus if Fury eventually ends up letting Odin know exactly what he thinks of Odin having let Loki get that far.

 

  
  
  


When Black Widow’s Widow’s Bite disappeared into the monster’s mouth, the Avengers thought at least this would have an effect; but the monster didn’t even show the effect of the high-voltage electricity which must have discharged in its stomach.

“What is up with that thing?” Tony shouted, grabbing Natasha and flying off to avoid the charging monster. “It has hard shells so our attacks don’t work - I’m fine with that! But it swallowed the Bite! Shouldn’t that work?”

“You aren’t the only one mystified here!” snapped Clint as he shot arrows at the area which could be monster’s eyes. The arrows hit the target and stayed; again the monster didn’t even find it ticklish, let alone get hurt. At least he stopped it from looking up and having a go at swallowing Iron Man and Black Widow, so Clint called that a success.

“Coulson, how is the evacuation going?” Steve asked at the Avengers comms.

“We are trying our best but it is ongoing still. Especially with that half-eaten building...”

Steve also looked at the building not far from the monster. The building, not a skyscraper by NYC standard, had a hole as if something had bit a chunk off it.

It wasn’t _as if_ ; something really _did_ bite a chunk off it.

By that monster which looked like a blown up pine caterpillar.

There were still people inside it, who couldn’t evacuate yet.

“Captain! Don’t zone out!”

“...What zone?”

The slang went right over his head, but his battle-honed reflexes managed to avoid all the caterpillar hair. They wanted to get the monster away from the building to let people evacuate, but even all the Avengers couldn’t drive it away, let alone get rid of it.

“Be careful, friend. You should never touch it.”

When the caterpillar headed for Steve, Thor held him by his side and flew up to get away from it. He held up the Mjolnir in his left hand, and a lightning fell, hitting the monster.

“Thor, do that again. I think that slowed it down a bit!” shouted Tony. As soon as he said that, the monster hit Iron Man by swinging its lower body.

“Tony!”

“It’s okay, still breathing,” Tony waved, despite going through a building and getting stuck in a wall with his limbs in the air. “And I’m wearing an armour so there’s no direct contact.”

At that, Steve looked at Thor with concern in his eyes. Thor’s right hand was swollen purple up to his elbow. It was from the beginning of the battle when he tried to ride the monster on its back by grabbing its needle-like hair.

There was no time to hang about, so Steve pulled back, using his shield to deflect another set of the flying needles. The monster opened its mouth. Tony, who managed to free himself from the wall, shot his repulsor beam at it; but the monster swallowed the beam also.

“I can be broad-minded and understand it eating a bomb and the Bite; but _how_ can it eat up the repulsor beam?”

“Maybe its insides are just really resilient,” said Steve, worried that Tony was losing it, but realised his words won’t help Tony to get himself together.

“Coulson!”

“Yes, Mr Stark?”

“Get me insecticides, those extra strong ones!”

“Tony!” Steve shouted, upbraiding him.

“.....I will pretend I didn’t hear that.”

“No, it’s worth a try,” cut in Clint. “It really does look like and act like a pine caterpillar and has poisonous hair and everything too, right? We’ve nothing to lose, so how about tying one to the arrow and shooting it? That’s safe.”

“I’ll look for a drugstore or a convenience store nearby.”

“......Coulson? Did you just ignore _my_ suggestion and took it up when _Hawkeye_ repeated it? Is that how things work around here?”

Natasha chimed in.

“Ever heard of the phrase ‘evaluate your daily behaviour’?”

“Spread out!”

The gigantic caterpillar had already closed up on them, and was raising its relatively small - well, considering its length, nearly nonexistent - foot to stamp on them. Tony flew up, taking Steve with him, and Thor ran towards the opposite direction, striking the monster with another lightning.

This time, the monster took a mouthful of the road as if in retaliation. It was fortunate that it didn’t eat the building, but this made it harder for the people trapped in the building to evacuate.

The monster opened its mouth again, and Clint shot another arrow; this time with a spray insecticide tied to the shaft.

It was a clean shot and the arrow got swallowed up neatly, but though they waited, the monster was unaffected once again.

“Umm, maybe we need to feed it some more?” Tony suggested tentatively.

“Feed it yourself!” Clint replied.

“Aren’t you having fun.”

A voice which shouldn’t be heard on the Avengers comms was heard on that very channel. Everyone stared at the green shadow that appeared at Thor’s side, eyes wide with surprise.

“Seems like you’re enjoying yourselves. Shall I leave you to it?”

“Loki!!”

“So it was you!!"

Thor and Tony shouted simultaneously.

“Stop it if you’re just playing one of your games; some people are still in that building!” Steve shouted a moment later.

“Hmph,” and Loki lightly clapped. “Well, there isn’t anymore.”

“ _What?!_!!”

“JARVIS!!”

\- Life scan complete. The humanoid presence in the building is zero.

Steve, Tony, and Thor all looked at Loki, with huge eyes nearly popping out in amazement.

“Here!” shouted Natasha. “There’s a crowd of people around me, all of a sudden...”

“Agent Romanov, evacuate those people right now!” instructed Coulson.

“Loki, please explain.”

“About the comms or the people?”

“About the monster.”

Loki grinned.

“Straight to the point, I see. That’s fine. First, your jolly friends can’t get rid of that thing. At all. It’s impossible. Do you understand?” saying so, Loki spread a hand and stretched it out. A green shield appeared, blocking the monster from hitting him bodily.

“So what should we do?”

“Do you know about that thing?”

“What do you want!”

Loki motioned covering his ears, theatrically.

“Please take turns when asking a question, children. Thor, you should firmly curb your pride and beg me to help you. Captain, I do. Tin soldier, I want 150 years subscription for _Playboy_ magazine.”

“WHAAAAAT?!!”

“Why, is it too expensive to you? To continue with the nanny, you’re desperate to know how to get rid of it than its name and origin, are you not? It is simple. I will open a crack to return it to where it came from; until then, you superheroes should try their best to hold it in so it doesn’t run away.”

Coulson didn’t argue with being called a ‘nanny’.

“Can I ask you why you’re helping us?”

“Of course not.”

And when the monster headed this way, Loki teleported to avoid it. The green shield was also devoured when its mouth began tearing it apart.

“Loki, what is that creature?” asked Thor, somewhat nervously.

“It’s an Yggdrasil pine caterpillar.”

“What?”

“A bug that gnaws away at the world tree, the world itself. Thankfully it is a small one. And Yggdrasil is not a pine tree, so strictly speaking, it isn’t a pine caterpillar, but you do perceive how it is? It is fortunate you didn’t throw Mjolnir at it, Thor. If you did, it would’ve eaten it also.”

Thor and Steve, the two with throwing weapons, visibly paled.

“Um, Loki, what about Thor’s arm?” asked Steve.

“It would itch terribly for about a week. Don’t scratch it or it will get infected.”

“.....So it really is a pine caterpillar....” Tony shook his head as much as his Iron Man suit allowed.

“For reference, it’ll be ‘Happy Deathday’ within a day if you get stung. There’s no antidote.”

“Did I ask you?”

Clint thought Tony might really get a stream of wreaths saying ‘Happy Deathday’ if he did really die. Pepper and Steve might not; them two will be the only really good people to not do that.

‘.....Thor would send one too, thinking it’s the done thing since all the others are doing it.’

While Clint was having silly thoughts, Loki took a position and began chanting a spell. A green light began to gather around the building which the caterpillar monster had took the first bite from. The caterpillar turned its head towards Loki. Thor roared and began calling down lightning, one after another, much stronger than the previous ones.

“I will not allow a single strand of your hair to touch my brother, you worm!”

“Only you’d still go on about your brother in a situation like this,” was what he said, but Tony also shot the unibeam at the caterpillar, pushing it away from Loki.

“Would that spell take long?” Steve asked Thor.

“I wouldn’t know, but even for Loki, sending an enormous creature such as that to a different dimension would not be an easy task.”

“Shouldn’t we not interrupt him? He can hear what we are saying, no?” Natasha, who didn’t say anything but was listening, cut in.

“No worries there, he pulled his comm out when he began,” said Tony.

“It must be a demanding spell,” Thor spoke in a tense voice. The caterpillar shook itself and began heading towards Loki again. Tony increased the output of his beam.

“Wait, something’s weird,” Hawkeye stated over the comms; he was overlooking the battlefield from a rooftop which gave him a wide view. “If it’s just a caterpillar, shouldn’t it just eat a building or a tree where it fell? Why is it heading for Loki again and again?”

“Huh?”

“As Loki is the biggest threat, surely it would...” said Thor.

“Well, I don’t know if a caterpillar has the ability to make a tactical judgement like that; but up till now it just kept on eating even when we were poking at it, ignoring us and not fighting back or anything.”

“Agent Barton.”

“Yes, Phil?”

A silence fell over the comms for a moment.

“Yes, sir?” Hawkeye corrected himself.

“Did the caterpillar specifically tried to eat anyone among us?”

Clint racked his brain.

“Errr... maybe Tony?”

“Is that so.”

Coulson was just about to say something when Tony shouted:

“That thing’s a female?”

“............”

“............”

“............”

“Someone close to him punch him one for me,” requested Natasha.

“I’ll punch him twice after this is over,” promised Clint.

“What I’m saying is,” Coulson raised his voice. “That caterpillar might be attracted to discharged energy.”

And the sky fell dark.

“How dare doth that filthy worm attempt to devour my brother Loki, the prince of Asgard and a son of Odin!! I, Thor will never stand for it!!!”

“Well played, Coulson,” said Tony as he landed down to avoid the indiscriminate lightning. “I think Thor can deal with it by himself now.”

“That wasn’t my intention... but all’s well that ends well, let’s say.”

“Well, at least there won’t be any further damage, with that caterpillar just trying to eat Loki and Thor holding it at bay,” Steve saw the hopeful side. Natasha decided she won’t mention the few casualties who were already eaten - not now anyway.

Leaving the evacuees who got out thanks to Loki to be looked after by other agents, Natasha ran back to the scene of combat. If it was the kind of monster which could only be sent off with a huge mass of energy, most of her skills won’t work on it; still, it didn’t mean she’d give up and leave the frontline. One of her teammates might get hit, get stuck in a wall and might require assistance.

_If it’s Tony, maybe I’ll leave him there since he won’t die with that thick shell of his_ \- with such leisurely thoughts, Natasha located the whereabouts of her teammates. Thor was in the air, shining in a sparkly fashion as if he were the lightning itself. Not directly below him was Loki, who was not her teammate but seemed like he was actually cooperating with them for some reason. He was standing in the centre of an enormous web which was glowing green, continuously chanting a stream of words the mortals couldn’t understand. There were some letter-like images floating around him in the air.

Hawkeye was standing on the rooftop of a building opposite the building that got eaten. He wasn’t participating in the battle at the moment, but he was alert and constantly on the watch. When their eyes met, they waved to each other.

On the ground in front of that building were Iron Man and Captain America. They also weren’t fighting at that moment, but they’d jump in the moment Thor seems to flag and help him push the caterpillar away.

Coulson was standing on the ground opposite Thor, when seen from Loki’s position. He was keeping an eye on Loki and his magic from the area which may be called the rear.

‘Guess you can’t really trust Loki fully.’

If Loki tries to do something, Coulson’d throw himself to stop him. Natasha made her choice and headed for that direction.

The letters floating around Loki disappeared. The web that was spread out began to flow towards a single point. The point, the eaten building, began to twist and turn towards the centre point like a CGI effect.

While they watched, something like a slowly spinning huge black disc appeared where the building was.

Loki breathed out and took a step backwards.

“It’s done; now push it into the void!”

“Huh? It’s not going to get sucked in?” shouted Tony.

“Shall I add a vacuuming function? Although a lump of tin would be much lighter than that worm.”

“Why does he always pick on me?”

“Because you pick on him every time...” Clint mumbled to himself, too exhausted to retort properly.

Ironically, as Thor had pushed the caterpillar away to distance it from Loki, they had to try hard to return it to the building.  

Loki stepped back some more and stood next to another building. Coulson quickly went up to him.

“Can’t they make more haste?” Loki spoke first, even before Coulson could ask him if he’s okay.

“They are doing their best even now.”

“It doesn’t seem that way.”

Coulson had to admit Loki was right, at least where Thor was concerned. It was clear that Thor was much less powerful than he was, since he was tired and his arm was itching like crazy and there was no brother of his to defend behind him.

“Tell them to hurry. Even I can’t hold a portal to an outer space ad infinitum.”

“You’re holding it open?”

“Leaving that caterpillar to eat its way through this place would be the peaceful conclusion in comparison to creating a permanent black hole here.”

Indeed. Coulson didn’t say anymore and shouted in the comms.

“Everyone, please hurry. We haven’t much time.”

Thor, who is more familiar with magic and Loki than other Avengers, understood the situation at once.

“Hold on a bit more, Loki! I will take care of it swiftly!”

Thor’s words rang out through the street, making the comms redundant. The caterpillar stretched towards him and opened its mouth, perhaps thinking a being so energetic must be tasty.

Thor quickly gained altitude.

  


 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this before the Avengers was released, so sadly there is no Bruce Banner in this fic. T_T I really like him now, but before I watched the film, I didn’t really know Hulk and wasn’t interested in him.


	2. Chapter 2

 

  


“Wanna be the bait?” Iron Man flew up to Thor’s side.

“What?”

“That thing wants to eat us up. So you and me, we can lure it to the portal or whatever that thing is called.”

“...Let’s do it.”

The two of them flew around the mouth of the gigantic pine caterpillar. When it stretched towards them, they quickly pulled back towards the crack.

“Take care!” shouted Loki when Thor was close to the crack. “If you fall through, even I can’t save you! You will fall straight to Nidhogg!”

Disregarding how close he was to a terrible danger, Thor smiled such a bright smile that they could see it across the distance between them.

“Thank you for your concern, brother!”

“...Who’s your brother?! No! Fall and die! Fall and be eaten by Nidhogg, you fool!”

“Would you really let him get eaten?”

Loki whipped around and glared at Coulson. Coulson thought Loki would change into Nidhogg - whatever that is - and eat him.

Loki did not change. He leaned on the wall and sighed.

“That stupid muscle-head does not think at all...” Though he complained, he held his breath when Thor once again hovered near the crack to lure the caterpillar, and breathed out when Thor pulled away from it. “Really, he is no help.”

As it neared its original position, the caterpillar seemed to realise something was up. It tried to backtrack but Steve was pushing it with all his might, now that the danger of its bite was over, covering his body with his shield. It was harder than pushing an enormous container truck with its brake on; still Steve did his best.

“Geez, Cap. That guy’s way too naive.”

Since it was clear that the caterpillar wasn’t as enthusiastic about the nutritious flying insects, Tony sided with Steve and joined him in pushing the monster. But the caterpillar didn’t budge that much even though the two of them were pushing it.

“Anybody know how to lower the coefficient of friction of bug soles?” shouted Tony.

“What the, bug soles?” She didn’t have much to do with feminine sensibilities all her life, but Natasha thought she could show how unnerved she was by something like this.

“What is coefficient of friction?” asked Thor, still trying hard to get the caterpillar’s attention without touching it nor getting too close to its mouth.

“To get it sliding! I’m asking if there’s anyway to make it slide to the portal!” shouted Tony as he flew up with Captain, avoiding the monster as it tried to eat the two pushing at its ass.

“Slide...” Thor pondered, dodging the monster which was now shaking its head in the air and randomly snapping its jaw. “Would it help if the rain soaked the street?”

Coulson, listening into the conversation via the comms, related it to Loki.

“What do you think?”

Loki sighed heavily.

“These superheroes are too bothersome, truly as bad as infants.”

He stretched his hand towards the ground. The air around his hand turned white, and ice began to cover the ground. The ice spread out and reached the monster’s feet.

“Wow, it’s moving, it’s moving!” Tony stuck himself to the caterpillar once again and began pushing with all his strength.

“I will aid you, my friend!” Thor flew up to Iron Man’s side also.

“Hey, your arm, your arm!” shouted Tony.

If Thor pushed the caterpillar with his bare hands and bare arms, it would be a disaster even if he was an alien.

“Use this!” Steve threw his shield towards Thor. The ground was frozen, so even if he pushed, he’d only slip. It was better to let those peo... those who can fly deal with it.

“Thank you, my friend!” Thor gave the caterpillar a mighty shove, now protecting his body with the shield.

Now that Iron Man and god of thunder were using all their strength to push it, the caterpillar monster didn’t have a chance. The caterpillar began its helpless slide, wriggling all the while.

“No, wait wait wait!!” Clint’s scream hit everyone’s eardrum. “The vector is off! It’ll hit Phil and Loki at this rate!!”

“What?!”

Both Thor and Tony took their hands off the worm, appalled. However, the slippery floor with lowered coefficient of friction was still slippery enough; the monster, trying to right itself, was now using all its might to turn its head towards the delicious thing it had seen before, which was alongside its route.

Looking at the open-mouthed monster rushing towards them, Coulson considered his options.

_Can we stop it? No._

_Can we avoid it? Left or right. There’s a wall behind us._

_Can Loki escape by himself? Possibly negative, as he is still here._

_Priority? Loki._

He pushed Loki away from the monster’s route.

_If you get bitten by that?_

_Your being gets obliterated and you disappear._

The monster’s mouth was now inches from him. Coulson closed his eyes.

  


“Argh... urgh!” Getting squashed under a gigantic mass, Coulson screamed. He thought he could hear his ribs breaking. Perhaps one or two of them had stabbed his lung. His shoulder, caught between the wall and the caterpillar, was getting twisted.

Yet all of them were very different from the pain he had foreseen.

First of all, he wouldn’t be feeling pain if he had died.

He opened his eyes. His body was between the mouth (lips?) of the monster and the building. There was some kind of black cord tying the monster’s mouth.

His eyes followed the cord. Looking at the handle in Loki’s hand, Coulson realised that cord was a whip or a weapon of that kind.

“Really,” gasped Loki, as he dropped down onto the ground and shut the caterpillar’s mouth by tying it up with the whip. “What am I to do, if the nanny is a handful as well as the infants?”

“Loki!!” Thor flew down, his descent rapid like a crash-landing plane. 

“Phil!! You are alive?!” shouted Clint. 

“Yes...”

“Right, Thor! Prepare to push it from there! Tony, go back to the bug’s ass!” shouted Clint. “It’s really close that portal or whatever now, so you just need to push a bit more; both of you get the direction right this time! It’s the spot that bug had eaten; why are you finding it so hard?”

Clint had to try hard to calm down.

To be fair, Thor and Tony didn’t do anything wrong. It was just that god of thunder was tired out whereas the machine, which had limits but didn’t get tired, had a higher output so the whole thing had veered to the left a little. Plus the worm was wriggling about...

“Push it together on three, you dumbasses! Tony, lower your power a bit!”

The more he thought about it, the more it pissed him off.

‘Let’s get rid of that thing first, get rid of that thing first...’

Following Clint’s command, now the giant caterpillar was getting pushed towards the crack without deviating to the side. Steve and Natasha ran up to the fallen.

“Oh, gees, Coulson.”

The two of them got him down from the wall and lay him down on the ground, making it as comfortable as possible, and turned his head to the side so he won’t suffocate. He was alive, sure, but every time he breathed bloody foam leaked out which showed the severity of his condition. Urgently calling for an ambulance, Steve eyed the caterpillar worriedly. Unless that thing gets taken care of, the ambulance won’t be able to approach them. It seemed like the situation was nearly over, but their work was the kind where something could go wrong at the very last minute.

The monster’s middle was now caught on the side of the portal. The caterpillar wriggled more fitfully.

“Watch out, Thor!” shouted Loki. The whip tying down the monster’s mouth snapped.

The caterpillar’s mouth brushed the end of Thor’s cape. Tony also moved out, after pushing the caterpillar’s ass nearly into the dimensional crack. They were trying their hardest to push the monster into the crack, but they couldn’t do much as they had to avoid its mouth.

‘Please, there isn’t much time,’ Steve begged fervently.

“Stark, Thor. Get out of the way.”

The two of them jumped out of the way taking opposite directions before their brain could register what was happening. Tony turned his head.

“Fury?”

Fury fired the rocket launcher strapped to his shoulder. The anti-tank armour penetration warhead landed on the ground right below the caterpillar’s head, which was held up high to look for food, and exploded.

The force of the explosion sent the caterpillar’s upper body to fall backwards, into the crack.

The caterpillar began to disappear slowly, and soon the black disc was rapidly shrinking down. The next moment, only the half-eaten building, which looked like it’d topple down any moment, was left.

“....Is it over?” asked Clint. The moment he realised that was true, he began rushing down the building, full speed.

“Loki!” Thor ran up to his brother. “Are you alright?”

Loki stood up and brushed down his clothes.

“This is nothing.”

“What about son of Coul?”

“The ambulance is coming,” answered Steve. Fury hurried towards them.

“Agent Coulson?”

“He’s alive yet,” replied Natasha.

“Hey, Fury. What’s up with making a grand entrance at the end and doing the whole scene stealing stuff?” Tony complained. Fury snorted.

“No, the one who stole the scene today is Loki,” and he turned towards Loki. “I know what you did and how much you did today. Thank you, you did a great job.”

Loki blinked.

“Without your help, we wouldn’t have got rid of that. Also,” Fury looked at Coulson, who was still breathing with difficulty. “You saved my valuable agent’s life. I sincerely thank you for that.” Fury held out his hand. Loki looked at that hand for a while.

A smile spread across Loki’s face. He grasped Fury’s hand.

“A mortal’s thanks is no use to me, but, well.”

After lightly shaking Fury’s hand, Loki approached Coulson. He waved his hand above the injured man’s chest.

Coulson’s breathing became noticeably easy. Steve and Natasha looked up at Loki , surprised.

“Your ambulance is far too slow. If he dies after my efforts, that’d be a waste; which is something I abhor.”

Loki turned away, as if to leave. Coulson tried to sit up.

“Mr... Loki?”

“I only took care of the lung perforation. The bones are still broken so don’t move.”

“Wait, before you go,” Tony stopped him.

“What is it, tin soldier?”

“You know what, this isn’t tin, but made up of iron and titanium and duralumin and a variety of rare-earth elements and et cetera.”

“So then, assorted metal soldier?”

Tony grinded his teeth while the others sniggered.

“Why did you tell us we can’t ask the reason you’re helping us?”

Loki turned back and smirked.

“Simple; isn’t it natural to say ‘no’ when you ask if you can ask the reason?”

Steve, who was tense thinking there was some kind of dangerous ulterior plot behind it all, couldn’t help his jaw from dropping.

“Oh, I see.”

“There’s nothing natural about that!” Steve glared at the source of interfering noise. “Tony?”

“Hmm?”

“Don’t tell me you understand what he means by ‘natural’...”

“Well, you know it’s the same principle as wanting to do something more because you were told you shouldn’t do it...”

“Tony Stark!”

Their bickering finally stopped after Clint arrived, and when everyone had calmed down, Loki was nowhere to be found.

  
  


Soon the ambulance arrived and Coulson was diagnosed with a dislocated shoulder, three fractured ribs, a minor elbow sprain and assorted bruises in the hospital; he was hospitalised for exactly three days.

Yet when he returned to the Avengers Mansion, he didn’t received a warm welcome but suspicious glares from his colleagues.

“Unbelievable, you were dying leaking bloody foams, and now you’re out after three days, that’s just unbelievable,” grumbled Natasha.

“It’s like getting hit head on by a huge trailer truck,” Clint chimed in.

“And you aren’t even a super soldier or modified super soldier or an alien or a mutant... you aren’t, right?” Tony seemed ecstatic with this rare opportunity to have a go at Coulson.

“If that happened to me, even I’d have taken more than three days,” even Steve joined in.

“The truck analogy is inaccurate. The mass might be similar, but the speed was much slower so the destructive power wouldn’t be as severe,” countered Coulson. Tony interrupted him.

“Shall we calculate? Coulson, how much do you weigh?”

“It’s classified.”

“...No way, you a girl or something? Every time I ask something you say it’s classified!”

“That’s because you always ask classified stuff. And my physical condition is fine. As you’ve all seen, Loki had-”

“He said he’d only healed your lung, just your lung. He said your bones and muscles and skin and such would be the same,” Natasha cut him off.

“Is that so. And since when did you implicitly trust Loki’s words?”

No one could reply to that for a moment.

“You can’t trust what Loki says, but you can trust what the doctor says,” Fury appeared. “What the Avengers are saying is right. Three days is too short. So Agent Coulson, you think you can go and do some investigation?”

“You just said it’s too early for him to be out, and straightaway you send him off to the field? What kind of slavedriver are you?” shouted Clint, but he shrank back when Fury gave him the one-eyed glare.

“That. Is. Why. It’s better for the patient’s well being and recovery, to have him get rid of a platoon of HYDRA by himself, than to let him stay in the mansion with you lot.”

There was nothing to say to that completely logical argument, so Clint grumbled a bit then gave up.

“But you had three... or four ribs broken; is it okay for you to move around like this?” Steve asked, concerned. Tony whipped out his StarkPhone and moved his fingers about rapidly.

“Let’s see, if Coulson is a human, average adult male with fractured ribs needs to have it fixed for four to eight weeks.”

“That’s right. So it’s held by a corset at the moment. Nonviolent action is fine,” replied Coulson. At that, Tony’s eyes gleamed.

Before he could say anything, Coulson took at his taser and began to check its safety catch, nonchalantly.

“Director, would using a taser be considered as a violent action?”

Fury shook his head.

“I’m no doctor but that’d be fine, I’d think.”

Tony closed his mouth again silently.

“Oh, where is Thor?” Steve realised that one of the team was missing, as he racked his brain to come up with another subject that can replace corset.

“He’s out carrying out some investigation work,” said Fury.

“What, _investigation?_ _Thor_ is investigating something?” Tony voiced his doubt strongly. Fury didn’t even blink.

“Yes. Investigation. Now I’m taking my agent, so you all better do what you should do.”

Fury nearly put a hand on Coulson’s shoulder, then realised he had it slammed on the wall and just gestured him to follow. Before following him, Coulson had another word to add.

“Mr Stark, it’s been three days but your incident report hasn’t been submitted yet. Submit it by 11PM tonight, please.”

“Tonight?! Weren’t you going off to somewhere far away like now?”

“If you don’t want me to come back, that’s fine.”

With that, Coulson and Fury left. Tony turned back and realised all the team were glaring at him.

“What? I didn’t say I’m not going to do it, I didn’t! Of course I want Coulson to come back... fine, I’ll write that report, okay, so lay off!”

  


  



	3. Chapter 3

 

  


Not long after that, they were sent into mop up the newly-discovered HYDRA’s secret base.

The fight went smoothly. After it was over, they boarded SHIELD’s helicarrier to return home.

It was a simple sweep operation without any magic or monster, the kind of operation they didn’t have for a long time, so everyone was congratulating themselves on their victory feeling relaxed and easy. Tony claimed they should all have a celebratory drink and Steve agreed, so they all rushed to the bar.

Tony began handing out a gin and tonic to everyone as a starter. Steve, Natasha, Clint, Fury, Coulson declined since he’s still recovering, Thor, Loki.....

Loki??

Tony tried to take back the gin and tonic he nearly handed over; Loki didn’t let go. Tony pulled harder but Loki’s grip was strong so the tumbler didn’t move.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Tony asked, trying hard to get the gin and tonic back.

“Loki, my brother!” Thor’s free arm wrapped around Loki’s shoulder and pulled him close. Loki’s body was flung back, but still the tumbler he had between himself and Tony stayed exactly where it was.

“What did you do to the drink, you bastard?”

“What did I do? Why, you think I’d poison the drink I’ll partake in?”

“Why would you drink it anyway? What right have you to drink my, I mean, SHIELD’s stuff?”

“Give him the drink, Stark,” said Fury. “He has a right to this celebratory drink.”

Tony blinked. The Avengers did, too. Noticing Tony’s grip had weakened, Loki snatched the tumbler away from him.

“Um, Fury? I think I misheard you just now...”

“Mr Loki had been a great help in this HYDRA base mop up operation,” said Coulson.

Clint held up his hand.

“Err, I don’t think he opened a magical portal and pushed HYDRA’s ass through it this time though?”

Loki simply stared at him.

“Did you want to push HYDRA’s ass?”

“No! No way! Geez, don’t joke around, that’s like going beyond being a pervert!”

“Why not? Madame Hydra is quite a beauty so if you noticed her ass that won’t be...”

“Don’t say it! Don’t say it! Don’t say it! Don’t say it!”

Clint buried his face under his arms. Steve calmly returned to the original topic at hand.

“I’d like to ask... well, know how he helped us in this.”

Steve changed his words quickly thinking the answer would be ‘no’ if he asked if he can ask.

“Loki provided us with the intel,” answered Fury.

“Is that why Thor of all people went on an investigation mission?” Tony wasn’t really asking but confirming it.

“And that’s what Coulson went to investigate while ‘recuperating’?” Natasha added.

“That’s right. We needed to confirm it. Don’t take it personally, Loki. We always reconfirm intel before taking action no matter who gave it to us. Double investigation is a part of SHIELD’s policy.”

“Why are you making it sound as if it’s not because you don’t trust me?” Loki sipped his gin and tonic.

“Even if it had been myself who’d seen their base, I’d have sent another agent to make sure of it. You have all my thanks, since the threat to numerous people’s lives and properties was removed by this.”

“I’m not particularly concerned with people’s lives and properties.”

Loki shook his empty tumbler at Tony. Tony pretended not to notice, filled his tumbler with whiskey, and gulped it down.

“Baron and I had a slight difference of opinions. I told him it is absurd to discriminate between humans, who are all mortals anyway, based on their appearances and said he should be discriminated against first if that’s the case; he threw a fit and tried to drive me out. Perhaps his constipation got worse.”

“Pffft.”

Imagining the head of a notorious terrorist organisation frowning atop a toilet, Tony spat out his drink. Loki put up a shield to protect his clothes from sprayed alcohol.

Clint didn’t say anything. Discrimination based on race and discrimination based on appearance were slightly different, but he wasn’t sure what kind of pervert he will be made out to be this time if he tried to explain that to Loki.

Fury himself poured whiskey into the tumbler and offered it to Loki. Loki took it smiling, and downed it at once.

“I shall take my leave now. Keep well, and survive until we meet again,” and Loki vanished.

“Damn,” said Tony. “I forgot to ask him why he helped us out with that bug thing.”

“Apparently it’s because the Earth crumbling down doesn’t suit his purpose,” replied Coulson.

“Huh? When did you hear that?”

“When I went on the investigation mission.”

“And you didn’t think to share until now?”

“I thought I might tell you when you finish your mission report,” Coulson replied coolly. Tony clutched his hair.

“Argh, damn all the mission reports!”

Meanwhile Natasha was looking at Thor, who was strangely quiet. It was rare for Thor to be so quiet when they were drinking.

His eyes were fixed upon the tumbler Loki had emptied and left behind.

“What’s up?” Natasha nudged his side.

“Hmm? Oh, it’s just... In Asgard, father used to pour the drink himself to the warrior who made brilliant exploits in the battle.”

Natasha stared at Fury, who was already leaving unnoticed.

“.......Really?”

  


So you can’t really blame Tony for feeling relieved when Doom attacked with his Doombots.

An ordinary attack by an enemy. Not related to Loki at all. Even if Loki was getting into this messing about with the Avengers thing, surely he wouldn’t betray his fellow villains and take the side of the justice... right?

Watching out - in a different sense from before - for Loki to make a sudden appearance, Tony strived to crush the Doombots as quickly as possible. He didn’t know what Loki was doing or where he was, but it was vital to finish this before he got wind of this attack.

“.....I think the world hates me,” Tony muttered the next second. Doom appeared, and the moment Tony prayed that Loki won’t show up, he appeared atop the equestrian statue (it was a part of urban landscaping project) and began manicuring his nails, and Doombots stopped fighting and began marching towards one direction forming an orderly queue.

“Where are you sending Doombots?” Steve asked, who seemed less shocked than Tony.

Loki replied without looking up. “The Hudson River.”

“Like lemmings or what?!” Clint shouted.

“Similar, I guess.”

“What is this!” Doctor Doom cried. “Loki... you, Loki! I thought we were friends, how can you betray me like this!”

“Yes,” Loki put the nail file down and looked up. “I thought we were friends, my dear Doctor Doom.”

Natasha tensed. Her sense of danger, honed by the years of living as a spy, whispered that something terrifying will unfold itself. But of what kind? What kind of preparations should she make?

Loki stood up slowly and glared at Doom.

“Though you may be a mere mortal, I also thought that you were somewhat worthy to be thought of as my friend. But how did you treat me? You stripped me and put a collar on me, and turned me into a slave tied to your throne with a metal chain and committed all kinds of unmentionable...”

He said no more. Or maybe he did, but they couldn’t hear it.

A strong storm accompanied by lightning descended on New York.

“Thor!” Tony hurried down to the ground and looked for a shelter. Since he was a tin sol... no, assorted metal... no, Iron Man, it was dangerous for him to be up in the air when the sky was filled with thunder and lightning.

Thor’s roar was as loud as the booming thunder that crashed down to the earth. Tony thought that if Thor got bigger as he got angrier like Hulk, he’d be as big as the Statue of Liberty by now.

Judging by his tone and the look on his face, it seemed that Thor was advocating his opinion on Doom’s parents employing various expressions and abundant analogy especially concerning that of his mother’s conduct and the predicted number of his fathers; it was clear that there were in-depth prophecies which were concerned with the terrible atrocities Doom’s certain body part will suffer in near future also.

Tony didn’t want to understand any of that, not a single word. Thankfully either Thor was shouting in an alien language or the thunder and lightning was too severe; he couldn’t hear it properly.

Natasha took a deep breath and screamed into the comms.

“Coulson-! Get Fury....”

“Coulson, alert the director!”

“Get that fucking eye-patch man right now!”

“Phil, call Fury!”

The four Avengers who still retained their reason shouted at the same time. Natasha wondered if she should feel happy to find that it wasn’t just herself who had eyes and could see.

“I have called him already,” Coulson raised his voice, enough to make it heard beyond this storm.  “But currently the director is at a classified location doing classified activity with a classified person, so even if he arrives as soon as he can, his ETA is classified!”

A cold silence reigned around the Avengers despite the loud thunder and rain.

“........Don’t joke around at a time like this!!” Tony screamed.

“I only said what I can without resorting to lying,” Coulson was calm even in a situation like this.

“Fuck it with classified! Damn that eye-patched old man!! It’s not like he’s in hell playing hopscotch with Mephisto!!!”

“Loki!” Steven switched off his comms. He needed to persuade Loki without Fury and calm Thor down; Tony going crazy in the background wasn’t going to help that. “Loki, please. Can you hear me?”

Loki turned his head towards Steve.

“Please get Thor to calm down before he does away with not just Doom but all of us!”

Loki tilted his head to one side. As if asking ‘why’.

Steve didn’t know what to say. Saying _Director Fury will get upset if he finds out ,_ seemed a bit too obvious. If Loki got angry at getting treated like a child, this situation as well as Fury’s plan for Loki - whatever that may be - would get ruined.

“He’s your brother!” Clint shouted in his stead. “Jesus, get that idiot to calm down before he does something crazy!”

Loki stood up, which surprised Steve. He was all the more surprised to see him flying towards Thor, not Clint.

Loki drew near to Thor avoiding the falling thunderbolts. Steve couldn’t even imagine what Loki, though he was a master with words, would say to Thor in that state and get him to calm down. So Steve looked on, holding his breath, wondering what he would say to appeal to his brother.

Loki was right in front of Thor. And a bolt of lightning struck him.

“LOKIIIII!!” Nearly throwing himself, Thor managed to catch falling Loki. He made for the ground straightaway and cried, clutching his brother to his chest. “I am so sorry! I didn’t mean to attack you! I am really sorry, how can this be! Brother, please open your eyes, I can’t ask you to forgive me but please.....”

“Thor, if you don’t let go of me I may die of dyspnea,” said Loki. Thor opened his eyes wide.

“Loki, you are alright!”

“Not exactly... urgh.” Now Thor was hugging him in joy, so Loki was in danger of asphyxia once more.

“So.....” Clint scratched his head. “Where did Doom disappear off to?”

“Guess he ran away,” Natasha sounded weary. “Let him go. I don’t think he’ll be coming back anytime soon.”

Clint nodded.

Thor let go of Loki. Now free from danger of asphyxia and fractured ribs, Loki stretched his neck and looked around him.

“Really, you superheroes,” he sounded like a housemaster of a boarding school. “Don’t you want to take care of incidents without a supervillain helping you once in a while?”

Tony nearly said something. Well, he nearly shouted something.

However, before he could even open his mouth, JARVIS informed him that Coulson had pulled his taser out and was right behind him; since Tony didn’t want to test the electrical insulation capacity of his Iron Man suit right now, he decided to keep his mouth shut.

“So...” Loki surveyed his surroundings. Doctor Doom was gone and Doombots were all spread out on the streets giving off sparks after getting hit by lightning.

“Oh, where is that rapist who deserves to be torn limb from limb?!” Thor shouted, one step late. It wasn’t a rare expression as such, but when Thor said it, it sounded horrifyingly realistic.

“Thor, while I thank you for being concerned about me,” Loki soothed him. “That was all but his fantasy. He didn’t really do that.”

“What, fantasy?” Tony opened his mouth, forgetting that Coulson was holding a taser behind him. “So all this happened just because a guy had some indecent fantasy in his...”

“Tony,” Steve called him, clutching his shield with both hands and looking down at him. It seemed as if he was calculating the way and the force he should use to hit Tony if he wanted to to knock him out unconscious, armour and all. “Stop adding oil to a dying fire and shut up.”

“Anthony Stark?” Thor turned towards him. “Are you telling me that you also had ‘indecent fantasy’ regarding my brother?”

“No way! Never! I didn’t think anything; I only pay decent kind of attention to Loki, like a superhero arresting a supervillain using handcu.... just to stop him from doing bad stuff! It’s nothing but that, seriously!”

“It’d be less transparent if he held up a sign saying ‘LIES’.” Clint whispered to Natasha.

Natasha elbowed him. “Shut up. Thor might hear you.”

“Well, I guess I punished him enough for his indecent fantasies,” Loki shrugged. “So... Fury is playing hopscotch with Mephisto in hell?” He looked at Tony. Tony again concluded it’s better for him to keep quiet.

“Thankfully, that is not the case,” said Coulson. “But I can’t reveal any more details. It’s classified.”

“Oh, no matter,” Loki shook his head as if to say it was no big deal, and vanished. Thor stared at the spot Loki was at.

“Mr Odinson,” Coulson called out. “I would like your cooperation in matters related to your brother.”

“I won’t assist you if you want to trap him and lock him up,” Thor answered sullenly.

“That isn’t the case at all. Rather it’s the opposite.”

“The opposite?”

“If we’re getting captured by Loki, I’m against that,” said Tony.

Thor hesitated.

“Well... if it is good for Loki also, I will.”

  



	4. Chapter 4

 

  


Two days later, a doorbell chimed in a luxurious penthouse in Manhattan, late at night.

“How did you find this place?” Loki asked, opening the door. He leaned on the door, wearing a silver-coloured silk nightgown, and looked like more like a supermodel than a supervillain.

“It’s not hard to find once you realise where to look,” Coulson replied, not affected at all by the supervillain’s extraordinary appearance.

“And why did you look for it?” Loki asked perversely.

“To pass this on. It’s a gift from Nick Fury, the director of SHIELD.”

Coulson held out a clear case with a disc inside it. Loki took it with a doubtful expression on his face.

“What is this?”

“I asked Thor, and he told me that a book about magic is Mr Loki’s favourite present.”

“That’s because that was the most safe option among what that fool could come up with. I could only be thankful that he didn’t pluck out a flower tree when I told him I wanted a bunch of flowers.”

“Yes. However, SHIELD has only limited contact with magic users, and Doctor Strange didn’t seem likely to give up his magic books,” Coulson paused for a minute. “There are people with dormant magical powers on this earth. We told him we needed information in order to find and train such individuals, and also to deal with related emergencies; under this pretext we obtained his permission to scan his magical books and turn them into a database.”

“...And this is the result?”

“That’s right.”

Loki turned the disc this way and that.

“Surely this is not the only copy.”

“There is a duplicate placed in SHIELD’s confidential documents archive, of course.”

“So you’re saying,” Loki took his eyes off the disc. His eyes were gleaming. “You tricked Sorcerer Supreme and took his books away?”

“If you want to put it that way, yes,” Coulson calmly replied.

“And it’s a gift from Fury, you say.”

“His current location is still classified, but he wants to express his thanks for what Mr Loki had done in dealing with Doctor Doom and calming Thor down, and also to compliment the effective method you used in calming Thor.”

Loki looked down at the disc again. Human magic was nothing to him, but he was curious about it. Besides-

“Fine. I’ll accept it.”

“Thank you. Director will be happy to hear that.”

“I can’t really imagine a happy expression on that face.”

“I can’t either but I’m sure he will feel happy deep inside his heart.”

“...Well, if that’s the case.”

“Then this, also,” Coulson lifted up a much bigger box which was beside his leg all this time and handed it over to Loki.

“What is this, then?”

“This is a personal thanks from me for saving my life the other time.”

“What’s inside?”

“It’s a blu-ray player.”

Loki pondered what that was for a moment.

“I don’t watch movies made by morta...”

“It’s necessary to play that disc.”

Loki closed his mouth.

“I can install it for you if you find it bothersome to deal with machines.”

Loki quickly glanced inside his house.

“You link it to the TV?”

“That way the letters would be bigger and your eyes won’t get tired.”

“What is that?” Loki pointed to a blue case sandwiched in the corner of the blu-ray player’s box.

“It’s a film called _The Matrix_ , for testing the image definition and the audio. For your information, it’s given away with the player when you buy it.”

Loki took a step backwards. Coulson entered Loki’s penthouse.

  
  
  


The news of the catastrophe that had befallen Doom must have spread among the supervillains; the Avengers were enjoying a period of peace in a long time. Steve headed for the dining area to get his breakfast after his morning training.

He met Coulson on the way and went to greet him - and met a shocking sight.

“Um, Coulson? What happened? You look completely worn out.”

‘Worn out’ was a roundabout way of putting it. Coulson, who always looked fine even after a night spent filling in all the paperwork required to straighten out the Avengers’ affairs, was walking with a tired expression and cutting a sorry figure, and Steve felt apprehensive thinking maybe some urgent matter related to the destruction of the world had happened somewhere without his knowledge. Yet there was no assembling of the Avengers for the past few days and last night Tony had ran out of the mansion saying it’s too boring and he needs to drink...

“What did Tony do?” Steve grabbed Coulson’s arm. “Did he go to the White House while drunk and went on a rampage? Or tried to seduce the president? He didn’t fly over to Latveria and improvised a poem about lemming-Doombots and broadcast it, did he?”

“.........Mr Rogers, your faith in your comrade is greater than it seems.”

Steve blushed.

“That’s not it. Mr Stark went to a bar in the usual way and got drunk in the usual way and hooked up with a lady in the usual way and had a one-night stand in the usual way and fell asleep in the usual way. Thankfully he didn’t bring the lady to the mansion, either. I’m tired because I haven’t had proper sleep these past few days.”

“........Why?”

“Anyone who is half-forced to watch films every night for few days running, from _T he Matrix_trilogy to _Blade Runner , Equilibrium, Bicentennial Man, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Liar!, _and all the other reissued classic SF masterpiece blu-rays I can’t even remember the names of, will turn out like this.”

“..............SF?” Steve was absolutely confused.

“Predictable, but magic users don’t like fantasy films.”

“AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!”

A scream rang out from the dining area. Steve tensed, shifting into battle mode at once.

“Tony!” Steve didn’t even think _Tony didn’t even bring a girl home so what the hell happened_ but rushed to the dining area at once.

  
  


Tony entered the dining area with a head throbbing with hangover. He thought he might be able to do some actual thinking if he had three cups of coffee first.

He tottered to the dining area and headed for the coffee machine. Something green hung on the edge of his vision.

Only after he had poured a full cup of coffee could his brain catch up with his eyes. Tony turned towards that unfamiliar green, bringing the cup up to his lips.

The cup fell on the floor. Tony screamed.

“Yes, good morning to you too, can soldier,” Loki waved a hand and spooned his cereal once more, as if nothing had happened.

It was Tony’s Iron Man cereal.

“What are you- what are you doing here?! Why are you here?! Why are you eating my cereal?!!”

Loki pretended to cover his ears.

“Really, I told you this before but you should really ask one question at a time. Is that so hard?” He stood up, as if everything was natural. “Firstly, I’m having breakfast. Secondly, that’s because this is Avengers Mansion and those affiliated all live here even when they aren’t homeless. Thirdly, maybe because I want to crunch on Iron Man’s head?””

“Who said you can-?! Get out right now!”

“Why should I?” Loki asked, with an innocent expression on his face.

“That’s because this is Avengers Mansion and only those affiliated can come here!”

Since Loki was already here, it was useless to insist on _authorised personnel only ,_ but Tony insisted for the hell of it. Loki suddenly stood in front of him. Surprised, Tony tried to step back but Loki didn’t allow him time to do so. He held something up in front of Tony’s eyes.

“What, what is that?” Tony adjusted his focus and looked at it.

It was a SHIELD pass. Loki was wearing it around his neck.

Loki’s photo was on it and underneath, it was written: [Avengers Consultant Loki Nickson].

“.......???!?@%$#^^&^%*&^$*^%$%^!!!”

Loki patted Tony’s shoulder rather affectionately.

“I have the exact same status as you, Tony Stark. Since we are colleagues, take care of me, okay?”

At that very moment Steve and Natasha rushed in.

“Tony, what happened? ......Oh, hi, Loki.”

“Good morning, Natasha, Steve.”

“What happened here?” Natasha surveyed the dining area. Loki shrugged.

“Nothing happened. Tony had a nightmare last night, perhaps.”

“Nightmare? You being here is nightmare itself!” Tony shook his fingers at Loki’s face. “And that pass! If you’re going to make a fake pass, do it properly; and why is Cap having a civilised conversation with this bastard? Shouldn’t you be bashing his head with your shield or something?”

Steve frowned.

“I don’t bash the head of my team member, who’s in his homewear having breakfast, with a shield.”

“......... _Team member_!”

“This is why it’s good for you to attend regular briefings, Mr Stark.” said Coulson, who came into the dining area at some point, poured a cup of coffee for himself, added sugar aplenty, and had drunk it all. “Mr Loki had joined the Avengers since yesterday. As a consultant on magical matters, so it’s a temporary position, strictly speaking.”

“Well, I don’t think I’ll feel like leaving anytime soon,” Loki smiled like a cat, looking at Tony. “It’s fun enough here.”

“Don’t tell me you joined the Avengers for your own amusement!”

“Say that to yourself.”

“Um, can’t you two just drop it and have breakfast?” Steve tried to calm them down.

“Would those two be okay?” asked Clint, worried. Natasha shrugged.

“Well, like what Fury said yesterday, if the price of having a supervillain like Loki reformed and on our side is Tony’s suffering, that’s quite cheap.”

“That’s true,” Clint nodded.

  
  


Clint began a betting pool to commemorate Loki joining the Avengers. It went: [When would Tony Stark lose it completely and get drunk and go on a rampage in the house wearing his Iron Man suit trying to kill Loki and trash half the house and get tasered by Coulson?]

Steve frowned of course and Tony was the subject of the bet and Thor was... Thor was Thor, so the only ones who could really bet were Clint and Natasha. Clint thought two weeks would be enough and Natasha thought he’d bear with it for at least a month.

Few days later, Coulson got wind of this bet and said ‘Then I bet he will be fine... well, as fine as he usually is, even after two months.’ So Clint and Natasha gave him twenty dollars on the spot.

Amazingly, Tony really did hold out more than a month.

And it wasn’t just him not exploding and just about enduring it. Tony and Loki became quite good teammates, really unexpectedly and against all expectations.

Three days after Loki moved in, they started a prank war. Everyone predicted that Loki would curse Tony and turn him into a walking disaster, thereby driving him up the wall, but their fight was quite fair and didn’t directly involved those around them.

Of course it was only fair in the sense that it was between the billionaire genius who was armed with all the scientific technology and modern concepts and had an AI who managed their house and everything in it as his butler, and god of mischief who had more than thousand years of experience and had Asgardian, no, Lokian sense of humour and had magical spells at his disposal and was an expert shape-shifter.

Their duel ended after a week when Fury intervened.

Fury told them that while the fact that they managed not to harm those around them and tried to stop the pranks from getting in the way of work, well, ‘for them’, was admirable, they should stick to his new rule which went ‘even the pranks not dangerous in nature should be limited to less than one per week per person’ and told them to clean and tidy up the rec room for a week as a punishment.

The majority became apprehensive thinking what would they do if Loki left crying ‘As if I would!’ but surprisingly he went with the cleaning and tidying and reduced the pranks he pulled. (Well, he reduced the number of times he got found out.) Fury congratulated Loki on successfully adjusting to communal life and gave him the complete works of Arthur C. Clarke as a present.

And Tony was bombarded by a barrage of questions.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Responsible Drinking Campaign with Tony Stark: Now you know WHY you should drink sensibly.
> 
>  
> 
> I didn’t include Fury in the third encounter intentionally, because...  
> In child mental development, there is a concept called object permanence. Briefly it means that the child understands ‘the object continues to exist even when unseen’ and learns to trust the world. It means she begins to trust that mother will come and look after her if she cries, and that mother hasn’t vanished but is just doing the dishes in the kitchen next door. If this stage is stable, the child would develop her trust and if not, distrust.
> 
> Loki was an abandoned baby. He experienced his world vanishing around him, where no one came no matter how hard he cried. Considering what a royal family is like, I don’t think Frigga would’ve cuddled him all the time and soothe him. He may have been told to ‘stop acting like a baby’ after he was more than three, four years old.  
> So it’s not strange if Loki didn’t develop the sense of object permanence and trust of the world. In a mental state like that, the attitude of ‘asking doesn’t cut it; if you need something, you have to snatch it by your own hands’ is formed.
> 
> In other words, this time Fury was sending a message to Loki which said ‘I still think of you and pay attention to you even when you aren’t around.’


	5. Chapter 5

 

  


“Tony, can you create an anti-gravity device?”

Tony took a huge breath, then sighed deeply. He put down the chopsticks and regarded Loki. Loki was lying on his stomach on the long table, looking at him.

Really, he should stop being so surprised. This teleporting-stalker-alien had been popping up in his lab, in his bedroom, in his garage, and even in his bathroom all the time simply to torment him for nearly two months now. He should be used to it by now.

Currently Tony was surprised not by Loki’s appearance but by the out-of-nowhere question he asked.

“Why are you asking that all of a sudden?”

Loki held up a book. [The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke 1960-1999]

“It says here you can use the error of equivalence principle to create gravity shield-”

“There is no error in Einstein’s equivalence principle. Even if there is, it’s not like that - fuck, that’s just fiction!”

There was something strange about Loki’s enthusiasm with SF. He was a sorcerer himself and could do all sorts of things impossible even in fiction; so why did he enjoy SF which had limits, as it had rules to follow, and turned nonsensical if the rules weren’t adhered to? Tony could relate to the fact that he hated fantasy; if Tony read [Ralph something something+] now, he’d throw it away crying ‘What kind of BS is this?!’ (though he really enjoyed it aged seven). Then again Tony never got into fantasy novels, so there was perhaps no way he could understand this side of Loki’s personality.

“But I heard that a lot of things this man had imagined actually got created.”

“That’s because he was a guy who knew how to use his brain and read the time well and could accurately predict what would be possible in the future. How the hell can you make something that completely overturns the physical laws like that? .......Would be great if I can make it; that means it’d be easier to balance myself when flying and I’d be able to shoot the repulsor beams from unstable positions and it’d reduce the energy used in flying so I’d be able to lighten my suit and improve the portable version and-”

Loki interrupted Tony’s long-winded speech.

“So, you can’t make it?”

“Nope.”

Loki looked disappointed.

“Anyhow, the dining table is used to putting food on it and to eat it; it’s not there for you to lie down on, you know?”

“Hmm?” Loki considered this for a minute, then turned his body around. Now lying on his back, he smiled a cat-like smile, looking up at Tony.

‘...Why did I even bother,’ and Tony scratched his head.

“You can float around ignoring the gravity anyway, can’t you? Why are you interested in this?”

Loki tilted his head.

“Well, because it’s fun?”

“You can’t just live for fun.”

“Hmmmm,” Loki grinned. “Then what should you live for?”

“That’s.....”

“You’re the same, Tony Stark,” Loki’s eyes glinted dangerously. “You also live for the fun of the moment. You became a superhero for that reason, also. Sense of justice? Duty to the mankind? You’re aware that such motivations are good and noble Captain’s, but not yours, are you not? Fun, curiosity, desire for strength and recognition..... the only difference between you and I is simply the difference of the direction our circumstances have driven us.”

Tony swallowed. His mouth felt dry.

“That isn’t all there is to-”

“Oh, and Pepper,” said Loki. “You had Pepper and Rhodey. In comparison, I only had just Thor, and even he was no use for a long time, you know?”

“I had Obadiah, too,” Tony pointed out.

“Dear me, Tony. Obadiah is much better!” Loki drew closer to Tony, sliding down the table while still lying on it. “Odin can’t even be defeated, you know?”

Tony looked down at Loki. Their faces were way too close when there was no reason for it.

If he just, just leaned down a little more.....

“Loki, are you here?” Thor entered the dining area.

One.

Two.

Three.

“ANTHONY STAAARKK! What are you trying to do, making my younger brother lie down like that!”

Tony would never forget the look of gleeful amusement on Loki’s face, which flashed in that very moment, for the rest of his life.

Well, he only had a few minutes left of it.

“No! It’s a misunderstanding! I didn’t get him to lie down!” Tony attempted a futile resistance. “Look, I’m not even touching him!”

“I did not think of lying down, Thor,” Loki’s expression completely changed, and his voice now had an woeful note. “But Tony told me I shouldn’t prostrate myself on the dining table so I had no choice but to.....”

Thor didn’t mind that he missed Loki’s speech halfway through.

“I will not tolerate this!”

“Gah!” Tony jumped up and ran towards the french windows which faced the door to the dining area and led to the inner garden.

“Thor, remember that Mjolnir is banned within the mansion-” shouted Loki.

“Brother, but-”

“Perhaps,” Loki pulled a disappointed face. “Mighty Thor Odinson can do nothing against an unarmed mortal without Mjolnir?”

Thor opened his mouth, then closed it. He threw down Mjolnir and hurriedly went after Tony again.

Loki looked down at the broken floor of the dining area beneath Mjolnir.

“Oops,” he shrugged, now alone. “Well, guess it’s cheaper than Tony’s life.”

“Loki, what is it this time?”

The other teammates came into the dining area. Clint smirked at Loki, who was still lying on the table.

“Hey, you shouldn’t lie down there, like a table sprea.....”

Natasha karate-chopped him on the head.

“I was going to say he wasn’t like that, okay, he wasn’t!” Clint protested. Natasha twisted her head towards somewhere far away where sounds of crashing and thumping and growling were coming from.

“And would that make Thor think differently?”

“.........Thank you for stopping me from making a complete jackass of myself, friend. In future, smack me to stop me if I say something stupid.”

“Sure thing, friend.”

Steve sighed - an increasing phenomenon these days - and went up to Loki.

“Loki.”

“What, Captain?” Loki pulled himself up, sat on the edge of the table and swung his legs. “Don’t be concerned, Thor didn’t take Mjolnir and soon JARVIS will use an illusion decoy to lead them, separate them, and hide Tony.”

“Why?”

Loki looked up to Steve and smiled brightly.

“For going on a dead run is good for your health. Much better than force-eating a tasteless diet meal all the while frowning.” Loki took the tofu salad from Tony’s table and threw it out the window, bowl and all.

Steve sighed.

“I agree with you on that... Did you do something with JARVIS again?”

“JARVIS can already project 3D images, so I thought he’d be able to make illusions for decoy if I just helped him a little. You like it, don’t you, JARVIS?”

\- It’s always a pleasure to upgrade one’s abilities.

JARVIS replied.

\- And Mr Stark is now safely out of Mr Odinson’s sight. Shall I have him return to the dining area?

“No, just tell him he’s safe and let him do what he wants.

\- Yes, Mr Loki.

Loki looked up at Steve with an expression saying ‘How about that?’ Steve breathed out a laugh and put a hand up to Loki’s head and stroked it.

“Go front to back, I don’t like my hair getting ruffled.”

“You use magic to keep it in place anyway, don’t you?”

Loki pouted. Steve did as he was told.

He realised this only after living with him, but Loki was cute like a mischievous little brother at times like these. He had this endearing quality which made it nearly impossible to believe that this was the same supervillain with that insane laughter who had fought them only few months ago.

How did this kid become someone like that? Steve Rogers couldn’t understand.

Moreover, Loki loved it when someone petted him. At first Steve had put his hand on Loki’s head unconsciously, and quickly pulled his hand back thinking Loki would get angry and all _How dare you impudent mortal!_ However, Loki didn’t get angry; he got sad, and afterwards Steve petted him whenever he had the chance. It seemed that the number of times when his and Natasha’s underwear got switched went down after that, but it wasn’t just because of that.

Steve thought that if Loki had grown up in a family where he was an only child, or rather had half a dozen siblings, it might have been better for him. If he was an only child, he would have had all his parents’ attention to himself, and if he had a lot of siblings, at least he would have had other siblings to play with even if one of them got caught up in something else.

Steve wanted to be that ‘other brother’. He didn’t think Thor was a bad brother or anything, but if Thor was not enough for something......

“Steve, what are you doing?” Thor came back into the dining room, maybe worn out from chasing Tony, and saw them. His reaction was vastly different from when he saw Tony and Loki (and if Tony knew, wouldn’t he just flip) but still Thor seemed wary.

“Can’t you see? He is being a big brother to me,” Loki replied, even before Steve could open his mouth. Thor’s face darkened.

“I am your older brother.”

“No thanks, if you stroke my hair my scalp will peel off.”

Thor flinched, then approached Loki. Then he sat down on the dining chair to lower his eye level, and put an expression like a scolded puppy on his face.

“Lokiii~”

Not only Loki but Steve also froze.

“................Who was it!” Loki cried after a long while. He glared at Clint and Natasha, who were trying to not look his way. “Who had taught something like this to Thor?!”

“Well... It’s just a conjecture but I can’t say that I’m not guessing it might be Tony,” said Clint, seriously contemplating the amazing beauty of the dining area’s wall.

“Yeah, it’s very similar to the on he pulled when Tony was angry at him for breaking the Iron Man toaster, right?” agreed Natasha, who had also rediscovered the beauty of the dining area’s wall.

Loki whipped his head back to Thor. He cradled Thor’s head in both hands and looked into his eyes, tenderly.

“Thor.”

“Yes?”

“You are not allowed to break Tony’s stuff from now on.”

“HUH?”

“Don’t think that everything will be forgiven if you do something wrong and just pull that cute puppy-eye routine! And don’t do that ever again to Tony Stark, especially! You say this and that and chase people with a hammer when it’s about me - but why are you so oblivious when it comes to yourself?”

Steve carefully backpedalled and joined Clint and Natasha at the opposite end of the table. Natasha pulled out the chair next to her for him and patted his shoulders encouragingly.

“I just don’t get their brotherly relationship,” Steve confessed.

“No one does,” said Clint. “Is it normal for brothers to hug each other like that all the time in Asgard?”

“Don’t ask,” said Natasha.

“Coulson said,” Steve lowered his voice so Thor and Loki won’t hear him. “It’d be a bad thing if you don’t hold on with all you got, when you didn’t just get your brother back you thought dead but got another chance to stand side by side with him.”

“......I still think there’s no need to hold on like that.”

Thor hugged Loki tightly, buried his face in Loki’s shoulder and rubbed his cheek against it. Loki patted Thor’s back with a resigned expression on his face.

“So everyone’s here.”

The door opened.

“Fury!” Loki vanished from Thor’s embrace. While Thor was looking down at his empty arms with sorrowful eyes, he appeared next to Fury. “Are you having lunch here?”

“No. I have something you can help me with,” Fury stepped aside. Spider-Man waved.

“Hiya, Loki.”

“Hello, Peter. So Fury, what shall I do to Spidey?”

“You’re going to do something to me?!”

“No, it’s not him but that,” and Fury pointed to a bundle of spider-web hanging from Peter’s fingertips. “Doctor Strange and Parker found it when they went to repair the boundaries of reality. It’s an object shaped like a dagger with engravings which look like letters.”

“Strange said he had other stuff to do, dumped it with me saying _Since SHIELD now has a full-time magical consultant, it’s not necessary for me to read it for them ,_ then sent me off to here,” Peter explained further.

“Is he sulking?”

“Doesn’t matter. It’s better to share workload anyway. Parker, get it out,” said Fury. Peter put the bundle on the table and untangled it from the web.

Loki glanced at the object and waved his hand above it. Something like a thick green fog descended upon it.

“Let’s see, it was made in Nidavellir and I can read their language.....” He leaned down to examine the letters.

Loki’s face visibly paled.

“What’s up, Loki?” Peter was the first to notice. “ So it’s actually something dangero....”

\- A strong electromagnetic storm has been detected above the mansion!

It was rare for JARVIS to shout, but everyone was concentrating on his words than his tone.

Since everyone was there to eat, the only ones armed were Fury, who’d at least have a gun, and Peter, who could shoot out webs from his body, and Natasha, who pulled out a dagger from somewhere - which meant Thor was their strongest asset at the moment.

JARVIS would tell Tony, wherever he was, that something was up; Steve hoped he’d pick up his shield too when he suits up, and looked at everyone to come up with a feasible battle plan they can pull off with what they had on hand.

“......Thor? Why aren’t you getting Mjolnir?”

It wasn’t just Thor. Loki hadn’t done fieldwork with them yet, but surely he would be a trustworthy teammate if there was a battle. Yet he was not moving.

“.....Thor? Loki?” Before he could say anymore, a pillar of light penetrated the inner garden. The blinding light and wind died down and in its place stood a single figure in gold.

“..........Father.”

  



	6. Chapter 6

 

  


Thor took a step forward. Beyond the glass wall, Odin saw him and headed this way.

“W...why?” whispered Loki. Odin’s sweeping gaze took in everyone there. Loki, his face pale and his expression stiff, hung his head and stepped back.

Then Fury took action. He began walking towards the inner garden where Odin was stood, and passing Loki he grasped his shoulder once, then let go.

Loki looked up and saw Fury’s back. Covered in black coat, Fury’s back seemed to completely cover Odin’s light.

He pushed Thor aside and stood in front of the door. Odin, who had walked up and was now in front of it, were stood facing him.

Steve sidled up to Loki. He whispered in a low voice only Loki could hear.

“Is this a ‘make a run for it’ kind of situation?”

“I do not know,” Loki’s voice quavered. While he said he didn’t know, it seemed as if he was convinced that he will be dragged away against his will and suffer unmentionable things. Listening to his shallow and irregular breathing, Steve wondered if he should take off with Loki right now.

“Are you the King of Asgard, Odin himself?” asked Fury. He quickly glanced at Thor.

“Yes,” Odin replied. Thor didn’t know what to do. How could he tell Fury to show proper courtesy to Odin? What kind of courtesy should he show anyway? Fury wasn’t one of Odin’s subjects, nor was he a guest - rather, in this situation, Fury was the master and Odin an unexpected guest. If that was the case you couldn’t really say Fury was being impudent.....

He only realised there was someone else who could act as the master of Avengers Mansion as much as Fury when he heard the blast of takeoff.

Another golden light was flying down from the sky.

“No, Tony! Don’t attack!” shouted Thor. Steve scrambled to turn on his comms, but realised he didn’t have it with him.

“JARVIS!” screamed Loki. “Shut it down, shut the system down!”

\- That is dangerous....

“It’s not as dangerous as attacking Odin!”

JARVIS came up with a more peaceful solution; by telling Tony the identity of the intruder he was aiming a shot at.

Tony landed next to Odin. He opened his faceplate.

“Wow, hi there,” Tony held out his hand. When Odin just stared at it, he grasped Odin’s hand and shook it. “You’re Thor’s father, right? I have heard a lot... well, actually I didn’t hear a lot about you. Anyway, glad to meet you. How about coffee? Oh, I’m Tony Stark. I’m genius billionaire philanthropist,” and he grinned. He turned to the dining area, maybe to get Odin some coffee.

Then he saw Thor and Loki staring at him with a gobsmacked expression on their faces.

“What’s up?” Maybe he should feel proud that he got Loki to pull a face like that (it wasn’t so hard with Thor), was a thought that passed through Tony’s head.

“You... you.....” Thor pointed at Tony, his hand trembling to the fingertips. He finally found the words to say after a long while. “You, do you act like that to your king, no, the head of state?!”

“I do already,” Tony shrugged. Thor’s jaw dropped. He signalled to his brother for help making the most pleading expression he can with a dislocated jaw.

“Your... your president is born common, but Odin is... Odin is a king!” Loki managed to find his voice. Thor looked at him with relief and thanks in his eyes. However:

“So what?” Tony replied nonchalantly. “I joke around with the princess when I go to Monaco. Besides, he’s the father of my teammates anyway, you know?”

Loki staggered. Steve hurriedly caught him.

“Good Captain, can I ask you a favour?”

“Absolutely. Shall I hit Tony?”

“No, hit me so I’ll pass out; better if you dump me in the sea over there.”

Odin looked at Thor.

“You have an interesting friend.”

Thor, trying to fix his dislocated jaw, quickly bowed his head.

“I’ll apologise for my subordinate’s disrespect,” said Fury.

“I deem such are cultural differences,” said Odin. “I will make allowances.”

“Thank you. Why don’t we talk inside?” Fury stepped back; he glared at Tony, who tried to follow them in.

“What?”

“Take that suit off first,” Fury slammed the door on Tony’s face and turned around. “I’m afraid we aren’t sufficiently prepared for this, the visit being so sudden. So what brings your majesty here?”

The two eye patched men faced each other. Looking at them, Clint felt he could understand why Loki followed Fury and joined the Avengers.

“I came to see my son,” said Odin, and he approached Thor. “You have disappeared from Heimdall’s sight for some time past. I did not believe you had died or was in danger, but as a parent I could not leave it so and therefore came down myself.”

He looked at Loki.

“Now I know the reason.”

Loki shrank back once more.

He did not know what he was to Odin, as he stood there in front of him.

He could surmise that he hadn’t been renounced officially and wasn’t wanted as a traitor, since Thor still called him a brother and didn’t attempt to restrain him and drag him off to Asgard - but he didn’t know more than that. He hadn’t even spoken to Thor about this.

Clearly, Odin will not forgive and forget easily like Thor did.

The reason he wasn’t accused officially is maybe because there was no need to, as when he threw himself into the abyss everyone assumed he was dead and didn’t think further action was necessary.

If that was the case, now that he was found out as being alive, Odin may apprehend him himself to Asgard, or even execute him here if taking him was too inconvenient.

Loki wished that he’d get a swift execution; no matter what kind of punishment awaited him in Asgard, he would still curse the fact that he had survived the fall.

“What does your majesty mean, that he had disappeared?” asked Steve. He wasn’t curious, but he couldn’t stay silent and still when Loki was trembling like that next to him.

“Loki had hid himself from Heimdall’s sight by magic,” said Odin. “Therefore Heimdall cannot see those he speak with and act with.”

Steve nearly asked why, then understood. To hide from someone who sees everything, it is not enough to simply hide himself. If you just cut out one person from a group photo, it just accentuates the absence of that person. If you really want to be unseen, you have to at least delete the surroundings too, if not the whole photo.

Loki suppressed a groan which nevertheless was audible. His breathing became more shallow and quick.

“We shouldn’t disturb the family reunion,” said Fury. “If your majesty is here to see your son, we will leave you to it. Everyone, let’s go. Parker, pack that in again. JARVIS, tell Tony to not disturb them. Thor, have a good chat with your father.”

Peter, just glad to be out of here, quickly wrapped the dagger with his web. He looked at Loki. Though he was standing on his own two feet, Loki looked as if he’d fall down any second, petrified with fear.

The Avengers shuffled towards the dining room door. Steve wasn’t sure if he should leave Loki with his ‘family’ and didn’t leave his side. Fury came up to them. Steve looked at him accusingly. Pretending not to notice this, he put a hand on Loki’s shoulder.

“What are you standing here for?”

“..........Huh?” Loki made a goofy sound. Fury didn’t say anything, but simply put an arm around Loki’s shoulders and headed for the door.

“He is my son, also,” said Odin.

“Eek,” Loki stopped in his tracks. Fury turned towards Odin.

“Is that so? Well, must be the cultural differences again. You see, we don’t consider a father a legal parent if he just leaves his child to tremble in fear and doesn’t give him a hug, or reassure him, or even speak to him.”

Loki gasped. Odin’s eyes widened. Thor’s jaw dropped again. The Avengers all stopped dead.

“I see,” said Odin. “But in that case, the child would be without his parents, would he not? I consider an unqualified parent to be much better than having no parents; or who would protect and raise that child?”

“The state does,” replied Fury. “The modern people think not only parents but also the society and the state are responsible for the children. So if the parents aren’t fit to be parents, the state takes the child in and entrusts him to someone who can look after him and raise him better.”

Loki had never seen anyone apart from Thor who could take such a firm stand against Odin and defy... well, argue against him; and even Thor was exiled to Midgard for going against Odin.

He reached out and pulled at Fury’s sleeve. His hand was trembling. He didn’t want Odin to do something to Fury.

Fury put his hand on top of Loki’s. He gripped it tightly, as if to reassure him.

“I do not believe it will fare well. Are there many who are willing to raise child of others?”

“Surprisingly, there are quite a few. I wouldn’t say every child raised like that is a success story. Still, there are many evidences which show that it’s better for the child’s mental health if someone tries to help him, than for him to think he is alone with no one feeling concerned for him.”

Loki understood. He never knew how the fact that somebody was standing up to Odin for him made him feel fearful yet happy until he experienced it.

Thor, turning his head, locked eyes with Clint. His eyes were asking if what Fury said was true.

Clint nodded firmly. Ordinarily he felt rather skeptical about the child welfare system, but at that moment he felt absolutely grateful that the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act existed.

“Wow,” Natasha mildly expressed her admiration. Clint agreed. “Our director is quite something.”

It wasn’t clear if he noticed that he had instantly earned the respect of all the Avengers or not; Fury was paying full attention to Odin.

“Is that so. I understand what you wish to say,” Odin nodded, sternly. “However, I am not completely ignorant of the Midgardian culture. For example, attempting to completely exterminate another race is considered a serious crime by humans, is this not so?”

Steve took a step back. Loki breathed in sharply. He tried to let go of Fury. Fury didn’t release his hand.

“That is true,” replied Fury. He continued, before Odin could open his mouth again. “Many people are working hard on it, but even at this very moment numerous species on this earth are becoming extinct because of men. It is a tragic fact.”

Steve opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but shut it again. Loki, not knowing what to do, just looked at Fury and Odin alternately.

“Jotun is an intelligent race. Are you treating them as if they are like mere insects or birds?” Odin raised his voice. “Furthermore, they are Loki’s own race, and you find no problem with this?”

“Of course not,” Fury said in a firm voice. “Even if it was done in the wartime, a crime is a crime and must be addressed. Human race had learnt this lesson through great pain and loss, so we do not make exceptions on this point.”

Loki cringed and shut his eyes tightly. He thought Fury knew what he had done in Jotunheim, but now that he thought about it again, he must have not known. If everyone finds out, they will hate him again. Steve was already distancing himself from him.

Of course there was no possibility of redemption for him.

“However, at the same time we learnt other things, too. The principle that you should never judge and punish someone arbitrarily, but should do so following the law everyone agreed to.” Loki didn’t understand what Fury was trying to say. Fury continued. “Like your majesty had said, Jotuns as a race has intelligence and culture. Therefore, they should be the ones to judge and punish those who committed a crime against them - not yourself.”

Thor stepped forward.

“Um, Fury, but the war with Jotunheim...”

Fury ignored him.

“I also know that Loki had committed a crime in Asgard also. As to the hostile actions he took against Thor, it seems Thor himself had forgiven everything so I won’t comment on that. Also, Thor was exiled here because he invaded Jotunheim, didn’t he? Then Asgard should only punish Loki to that level only for the hostile actions he committed against Jotunheim. Beyond that, it is a matter which the residents of Jotunheim themselves should decide.”

Odin glared at Fury. An eye met an eye.

“So, what will you do to ensure that such ‘proper punishment’ is realised?”

“I’m afraid we are not duty-bound to hand Loki over to them, since the Earth and Jotunheim have not signed an extradition treaty.”

“That is but sophistry. You are attempting to dodge the punishment Loki thoroughly deserves by cunningly upholding the principles of mortals when you are not considering the frost giants’ security at all.”

“I believe in Loki.”

“.............What?”

At his answer, not only was Odin taken aback but Loki too, no, Loki especially.

“What... do you mean?” Loki was surprised to hear his own voice. He didn’t realise he had spoken.

“I mean exactly what I say,” replied Fury. “I believe in you, and that you will be able to make the right decision. Oh yes, I didn’t believe until about three months ago. But as I got to know you, I began to think it’s possible. That you can do the right thing.”

Odin frowned.

“That is rather unrelated to the matter at hand we were discussing.”

“No, not at all,” Fury smiled. “I believe that Loki will be able to find a suitable way to make atonement to the frost giants, perhaps a way which is unique to himself. I also believe that he will carry it out. I believe Loki will be able to overcome the sufferings he had to endure inflicted by his own hands and by others. I believe he will be able to make peace with himself and also with the world. Thus the world will become a better place in future, for his being a part of it.”  

Odin was lost for words. Loki had to use his willpower to stop the tears from falling. Clenching his teeth, he gripped Fury’s arm tightly. Thor approached them and took Odin’s arm.

“Um, father. Perhaps we should retire to a quiet place where we can speak privately...”

Odin nodded. The two Aesirs disappeared from the Avengers’ dining room.

  


“Geez, damn it, Fury!” Tony broke the silence, walking into the room. “Do you know how fucking cool you were just now? Where did you steal those amazing lines from?”

“It’s from _American Gods_ ,” Fury replied. “Well, the content is completely different. As I do not believe I’m a shaman of a prehistoric mammoth skull or whatever.”

“What is that?” Steve asked, his face all confused.

“A fantasy novel based in mythology, shall we say. I read it because Odin was in it, and it was about how Odin and Loki joined up to con the new gods... wait, no one here was planning to read it, right?”

“Thor... what was he doing in it?” asked Loki.

“You don’t want to know. Anyway, I did take the form but the content is completely different so......... Don’t think I was bullshitting.”

“I do not,” Loki finally sniffled. “I am the god of lies, you know? I have been creating lies for more than a thousand years. If you lie in such a superficial way I’d instantly......”

Loki hugged Fury and buried his face.

“I never trust you!” he shouted. “You.......... I thought you were trying to lure me in with that damned eye patch! I just thought it will be amusing, too; that it will not be unbearable to go along with it and fool around; that I can always crush you when you try your tricks. I considered it as playing house, I never believed you were being serious!”

“So Nickson was just a joke?”

“Of course!”

“I wasn’t serious from the beginning, either,” Fury stretched his arm and patted Loki’s back. “Like I said I didn’t believe you before then. But there are certain merits in turning a lie into a truth.”

“Turning a lie into a truth?” Loki asked, sniffling. “Is such a thing possible?”

Fury sighed.

“Someone show Loki some rom-com movies.”

“I decline,” Coulson put his foot down. “There aren’t many SF movies, but there is no end to the number of rom-coms out there. I heard the Bifrost had opened up; is the situation over?”

“Maybe,” said Fury.

“So are we going to the movies now?” asked Peter.

“What?”

“I think that’s a good idea,” said Natasha, looking at Steve. “Let’s introduce Captain to the awesomeness of 3D movies.”

“I vote yes!” Tony held his hand up high.

“Is Avatar 4D still on in one of the IMAX cinemas?”

“If it isn’t, we can change that,” Tony grinned at Clint.

“Um, wait, weren’t we going for a rom-com?” Feeling vaguely threatened, Steve took a step back.

“We can see that too,” Tony answered cheerfully.

“I’m not really bothered, but just don’t let Stark choose. Or we’ll be watching an erotic comedy not a romantic comedy.”

“There won’t be a problem if Coulson’s coming with his taser,” Clint put an arm around Coulson’s shoulders. Coulson hung his head, letting out a long groan.

“Don’t worry,” said Fury, whipping his phone out and operating it rapidly with one hand. “I’m coming, too.”

“Eeek?!” shouted Tony. “That’s no fun-”

“So what were you planning to see?”

“Feels like some kind of Saturday evening family outing...” said Peter.

“It’s still Tuesday afternoon, but doesn’t matter,” Clint shrugged, and put the other arm which was not wrapped around Coulson around Loki’s shoulders. “Let’s go, little bro.”

“Who’s your little bro, you braggart mortal,” was what he said, but Loki didn’t twist his arm or shove it away.

“Hotdog for dinner?”

“Sure.”

“Peter, Steve, fast food isn’t good for you, you know?”

“You can have tofu yourself.”

“Captain is a super soldier and I’m a spider so we don’t get metabolic diseases.”

“You superhumans are damn annoying.”

“Loki, get Tony to run again.”

“If little sister requests, why not.”

“Who’s your little sister?”

“Natasha, you know that limited edition lipstick by Sisley you said you had lost? Actually Tony had picked it up and used it to scribble some mathematical formulae he suddenly thought up on the window-”

“What? Whaaat? I didn’t know, I didn’t know it was limited edition, honest!”

“Stop right where you are, Tony Stark! I’m going to peel the skin off your back!”

“How do you know all that, Lokiiiiiiii--”

Loki and Clint were rolling with laughter. Steve and Peter eyed the corridor where the two had disappeared off to with worried eyes. Fury and Coulson looked at each other and sighed.

  
  
  


One night, after two months or so had passed since then.

Thor felt a chill and opened his eyes. Someone was in his room. He tensed up at once. Avengers Mansion was protected physically by Tony Stark’s technology and magically by Loki’s barrier. If someone had managed to intrude...

“Don’t be so tense, it’s not an enemy.”

“Loki?” Thor sprang to his feet. The lights came on.

“I have come to bid you farewell,” said Loki, calmly. His words chilled Thor’s blood.

“To bid me farewell? Where are you going, why...”

“I shall go to Jotunheim.”

“WHAT?!”

“What Fury had said is right. If I truly wish to begin again, I must atone for what I did to them.”

“......If you die, there will not be a new beginning or anything!” Thor gripped Loki’s arm. “No, consider once more. I want you to settle your past too but..... ‘Tis madness to go to Jotunheim. I do not want you to die!”

“I don’t want me to die, either,” answered Loki calmy.

“But they will......”

“Thankfully,” Loki pulled his arm free from Thor’s grasp. “I have means which will help me to persuade them not to kill me.”

Thor blinked.

“.........What is it?”

Loki held out his hands in front of him. A transparent object giving off blue glow appeared in his hands.

“....The Casket of Ancient Winters.”

“Yes,” Loki smiled faintly. “I did not steal it.... or maybe I did. It resonated with me when I put my hand upon it. I thought the connection was broken when I fell into the abyss, but it did not. Maybe it’s because I am a frost giant... and of Laufey’s bloodline.”

“So you...”

“Yes. I will return it to them. I will implore them to use its power not for war, but to restore the ruined Jotunheim and its former glory and to improve the lives of their citizens. If that happens, I will be able to atone for my sins while I work... and if they do not listen to me and kill me and try to use this power for war,” Loki shrugged. “Then I hope that you will stop them.”

“Loki.”

“Heimdall will know when I die... You will be able to know if I die or if I live, and the outcome of our negotiation. Of course,” Loki hunched his shoulders. “If they receive it and do not wage war yet kill me, you or Asgard will not be able to do anything.”

“I will not stand for it!”

“No. You must bear it,” said Loki. “This is my choice and the result my own to bear. I will not forgive you if you interfere. So,” Loki put an arm around Thor’s neck and hugged him tightly. “Believe in me and wait. And....... please explain the matters to Fury and the Avengers. I’m sorry to ask you for such hard favour.”

Loki let go of Thor and stepped back. He smiled and waved.

“Farewell, Thor.... ..........May we meet again.”

Loki vanished.

“.......May we meet again.”

  
  


 

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As planned, Odin got his ASS KICKED by Fury.  
> ...But mentioning Jotunheim and genocide right there and then? I know I wrote him, but I must say this Odin’s ‘if I can’t have it, no one can’ attitude is quite extreme.
> 
> So this story’s finished. Don’t worry, Loki returns. He doesn’t die. I’ve already planned out what happens in Jotunheim and figured out when and what he will return to the Avengers and Fury as, so maybe I’ll write a short epilogue when it turns into a sizeable length.  
> ...........At first I wasn’t going to put a serious spin on this story, but there was an opening and I thought the matter of Jotunheim needs to be addressed if I’m to continue writing Thor fanfiction, so I did.


End file.
